Nom: The Story of Being Different
by Sar5ah
Summary: Skye and Kat are two best friends who go on a field trip that ends up changing their lives, but is it for better or for worse? Written by Sar5ah and Cass6ie.  POV changes: odd-Skye even-Kat. may be some slight hints of yaoi here and there, so get over
1. Chapter 1: Chasing after Bats

I stared around at the Crystal Cave.

"Why are we here?" I asked, Katherine (Kat), my best friend, who was grudgingly taking pictures for her parents.

"Grades," Kat answered, grumbling. "And 'cause our parents say we need to get outside more."

"But we get out enough!" I protested, a little too loudly, because the teachers pet, Brian, shushed me. I just glared at him.

"Walking to school doesn't count," Kat said. She sighed. "Sadly," she added.

I gestured to her camera. "What's the point of that anyways?" I asked her, changing the subject.

She shrugged. "Mum said she wanted some pictures to put in her, 'Places my Katherine Has Visited' scrapbook." Kat sighed. "Damn, it's so dusty, 'cause she doesn't touch it anymore."

I laughed, causing Brian to shush me again. I glared at him, again. "Leave us alone, Brian. We're just talking."

"Don't be so loud," he said. "Mrs. Smith will get you… _me_… in trouble." He shuddered.

I snickered. "Oh get over yourself," I said, still snickering. "I'm not afraid of…"

Mrs. Smith stepped in front of me, tapping one of her perfectly shined shoes loudly on the cave floor.

"Of who, Miss Jones?" she asked, her eyes ablaze in fury.

_Damn_, I thought. "Er… I'm not afraid of…" I happened to see a local, standing on a rock, surveying the caves. "…the locals!" I cried. "Yeah, them!"

Mrs. Smith laughed. "God, you must think I'm stupid enough to believe that!" She burst into loud guffaws of laughter. She abruptly stopped. "Essay on the locals here, 500 words, no more no less, on my desk, tomorrow." She resumed her position at the front of the class, pointing out the obelisks and odd statues as we continued deeper into the cave.

"Witch," I muttered under my breath. But, hey, you know what I meant.

"Yeah," Kat said, clicking her camera. "500 words… so cruel."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm trying to ignore your sarcasm."

She flipped her slightly curly red hair. "Hey, that's how Katherine McCollin rolls." She beamed widely.

Kat wasn't exactly the most popular girl in our grade. She had a pale complexion dotted with a million freckles, and had this odd, but cute, button nose. She also had rather small almond shaped eyes that were just made to look smaller by the thick lensed glasses she wore. And I have never seen her in anything but either a pair of jeans, or leggings with a skirt. Not Miss Popular material.

Me, eh, I have plain, boring straight brown hair (Kat envies it, but hey) with streaks of blonde here and there. I hated my glasses, which I had got just a few months ago. I love this particular sweater, a black one with a tall collar, but I never take it off when I'm at school. My mom says it's because I'm "self-conscious", but I say "I'm just damn cold". I hate skirts, and love wearing good old skinny jeans. And a T-shirt. No frills, at all, and not much pink either. I'm a bit of a tom-boy, I'll admit it. Leave me alone.

Suddenly, Kat gasped. I whipped around to see what was wrong.

"What?" I asked.

"There's a bat!" she exclaimed, but not with fear, as I imagined. Her parents are wildlife preservers, so I guess I wasn't surprised.

"I need to get a picture of it!" she cried, pulling me by my sweater sleeve and dragging me towards the direction the bat went. "Come on!"

"What? Hey! Leggo!" I exclaimed, yelping a bit when I stubbed my toe on a MASSIVE rock. Soon, we were far away from the rest of the group.

Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me. "Who's there?" I asked as Kat gleefully took photo after photo of the colony (if you could call it that) of bats.

Brian stepped out of the darkness, unfortunately bumping into me in the process.

"What the hell?" he yelled, staggering backwards.

"I'll say!" I said, brushing off some dust from my sweater.

This was the first time I had seen Brian Baker up so close. He wasn't handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. He had dark brown hair that was sort of wavy, and chocolate brown eyes. He had slightly tanned skin too, and was a few inches taller than me. No blemishes, but he did have this odd scar beside his left eye….

_What the hell are you doing so close to the guy?_ a voice inside me screamed. _Get away from the guy's face and leave him alone! What were you planning to do, kiss him or something? And why should you care if-_

I cut the voice off by smacking the side of my head.

Brian looked at me like I had just grown another head. "Why did you…" He shook his head. "Nevermind."

Kat came over then ("Thank GOD!" I wanted to scream) and said, puzzled, "Brian? What are you doing here?"  
"Well…" He paused before saying. "What are _you_ doing here?"

She held up her camera. "Bat pictures." She grinned.

He kicked a lone pebble aside. "Oh… Well, okay then…"

"Why are you here, Brian?" I asked.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He looked as if he were debating whether he should answer my question or not.

"I followed you!" he blurted out.

"WHAT?" Kat and I said in unison.


	2. Chapter 2: Lost and Attacked

I nearly dropped my camera. "Why would you follow us? 'Cause right now, it sounds to me like you _stalked_ us."

Brian scratched the back of his head, uncomfortable, I'm sure. "Er- well, I didn't want you guys to get lost or anything, and I didn't want Mrs. Smith to yell at me for not making sure you stayed with the group."

"Why do you care about what Mrs. Smith thinks?" Skye asked. "No need to be a teachers pet all the time."

I couldn't exactly agree. I just didn't think he wanted Mrs. Smith to be happy; I thought it was because he… cared.

"Well sorry for caring about your safety," Brian snapped at Skye. "Next time I'll just leave you up to your ankles in bat guano."

Guano; I knew what that meant. "We were not going to end up in two foot deep bat crap, thank you very much," I said, glaring at Brian.

"Yeah, but look how close you came to it," he said, pointing to a rather large pile of bat guano on the ground.

"Who _cares_ if we almost stepped in some bat crap!" Skye exclaimed. "I don't even know how we got onto this subject anyways!"

I rolled my eyes. "Alright Mr. Because-I-Care… get us out of here."

Brian looked like he could smile triumphantly. "Follow me."

He led us around the bat guano pile until we were past the colony of bats.

"Wrong way, genius," Skye muttered.

"I had to memorize these caves in Boy Scout's, so I would never get lost," Brian said angrily. "Just leave me to the navigating, alright?"

About ten minutes later, we were back at the bat cave.

"Memorize the caves, huh?" Skye said with a smirk. "Okay, so now where do we go?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking…" Brian said, pacing around the large pile of guano.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, come on Skye. Get us outta here."

Skye focused her gaze on the tunnel we had originally entered from. "Right."

We left Brian pacing, but we hadn't gone far before Skye said, "Maybe we should go get Brian?"

"Why do you of all people care if he gets out or not?" I asked, but I knew she was right. He had cared enough to come and get us, so we would care enough to get him out.

We started back, but we were stopped by the colony of bats escaping through the tunnel, flying out with speed past us. I screamed and ducked as one of the bats' wings brushed the top of my head. After a few minutes of crouching, I looked at the clock on my camera.

"8:36 p.m.," I read.

"Great," I mumbled, as Skye led me back to the bat cave.

When we got there, there were no bats hanging from the ceiling, and Brian was no longer pacing around bat crap.

"Brian's gone," Skye breathed, looking around the cave slowly.

I sat down on a rock, putting my chin in my hand. "Now what?"

Suddenly, the cave got very dark, the only real source of light being from my camera's screen. I heard Skye gasp, "What the he-"

There was a flash of orange light from the centre of the cave, then it was gone. Hovering there, where the light had disappeared, were two bats. One was a silvery colour, and it had light blue eyes. The other was a dark red bat, with bright yellow eyes that glowed in the dark. Both were about the same size, hovering at about the same height.

A clammy hand gripped my arm. It was Skye. "Oh my God," she muttered, staring at the bats.

I quickly took a picture, hoping that these weren't ghosts, and that they'd show up on my camera. I glanced at the screen; there they were, captured perfectly. Maybe those photography lessons Mum had sent me to in the summer were worthwhile.

The silver bat broke off from its position and made a beeline for Skye, and she screamed as it collided with her arm, gnawing on it fiercely. She screamed again then fainted. I turned to look at the red bat. It hovered there, watching me. Then, with one flap of its wings, dove down from its height and cashed into my arm, teeth bared. I screamed, high and shrill. Hoping someone would hear me. The bat bit me, and I screamed again, but I didn't hear anything come out. It was if I had just yelled into a black abyss.

My vision swam, and I couldn't see. I tried screaming again; nothing. _This is it,_ a voice said inside me. _These are your last minutes. Guess what it's going to say on your grave; Katherine Francine McCollin: Killed by a creepy looking bat. May she rest in peace._

I closed my eyes, and everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3: New Abilities

My eyes fluttered open. I heard Kat moan beside me. I looked around to see that we were still in the cave. I grumbled something along the lines of, "Stupid bats," and tried to sit up. My head felt heavy. I put my hand to my head, rubbing it a bit.

I heard Kat say, "Skye? Where are you?"

I frowned, confused. "Right here, beside you," I answered.

She turned and looked straight at me. She squinted. "Where? I don't see you."

I poked her arm. She jerked back, startled. "Who did that?" she demanded, whipping her head around to search for someone.

I don't think she can see me, I thought, bewildered.

Kat turned and looked at me again, rolling her eyes. "No duh," she said. "If I could see you, would I be complaining that I can't see you?"

I put hand in front of my face. It wasn't there. "I'm invisible…" I said with wonder.

"Obviously," Kat said, crossing her arms.

Then I realized something. "How did you know what I was thinking earlier?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You said it out loud."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

I rolled my invisible eyeballs. "Mhm, whatever you think." I then tried to become visible again, by thinking, "I am seen, I am seen, I am seen…" over and over again.

Kat gasped. I held my hand in front of my face again. I could see it! I was visible!

I turned to look at Kat, who had calmed down a bit. "Try thinking about something," she said rather suddenly.

"Uh, okay?" I said.

I then thought about white chocolate bunny rabbit's that I used to get t Easter. Kat looked at my mouth in astonishment.

"I heard you!" she gasped.

"The picture or the words?" I asked.

"Both!" she said, seeming almost proud of herself. Then she looked around the large rock that we had both fainted on. "Where's my camera?" she asked, looking around some more.

I looked on the floor of the cave. I saw it, where it had skittered into a corner. "Over there," I said, pointing. "I'll get it," I offered. I got off the rock and made my way over to the camera.

"No, I'll get it," Kat said. Suddenly, the camera floated off the ground, heading towards Kat. I watched in amazement as it landed neatly in her hands.

I gaped. "How did you do _that_?"

"What do you… oh that. I just kind of willed the camera over here and…" She held it up. "Poof." She smiled slightly.

I closed my mouth. I had just smelt something odd. It smelt like… "PINE!" I shouted, running towards the scent, grabbing Kat by the arm in the process. I ran until I thought my lungs would burst. But they didn't, and then I stepped out of the caves into a large pine forest.

"Where are we?" Kat asked, stepping beside me, her camera poised to take a picture.

"Elven Forest," I said, reciting what Mrs. Smith had just said a few hours earlier. And then I couldn't believe that I actually listened to that witch. (Again, you know what I meant)

There was a sudden crack of a twig. I turned towards it. "Who's there?" I asked.

"Why do you always ask that?" Kat mumbled.

Then, a little girl stepped out from behind a pine tree. She was fair skinned and had golden blonde hair that was pulled into two ponytails. She wore a pink sundress, and little pink shoes. Her eyes were big and blue, and kind of reminded me of the eyes of a deer caught in the headlights.

She held out her hand to me. I stepped forward and took it.

"Skye?" Kat asked, following me. "Where are you going?"

"I'm following the little girl," I said, as the little girl led me deeper into the woods. She was awfully quiet and never said a word, the only confirmation of her presence being the slight rustle of branches as she walked through the forest ahead of me. Kat stumbled along behind me.

Suddenly, we came to a cliff edge. We stopped and the girl pointed with one little finger, towards a bonfire in the distance. Then she looked up and smiled at me.

With a gust of wind, she was gone.

I opened and closed my hand a few times. Was I imagining things, or was I just holding the hand of a little blonde girl? I turned to Kat. "Did you see that little blonde girl that led us here?"

Kat laughed like I had just told a really funny joke. "Yeah, I saw her. She was walking along beside the little baby dinosaur." She laughed harder.

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to discuss my "hallucination". I led the still laughing Kat down the side of the cliff, towards the bonfire, which I knew was where the class was camping. When we got down there, Brian came up to us.

"Where have you guys been?" he asked breathlessly, as if he had done nothing but run since we blacked out.

"None of your beeswax, ditcher," I snarled at him, pushing him out of my way as I went to the tent reserved for Kat and I. "I don't want to talk about it."

Kat just glared at him with menace. When we got into our tent, Kat whispered in my ear, "He was thinking about why you got so snappy. And…" She chuckled. "And he was thinking about you in you r underwear for some reason."

I yelped and grabbed one of our pillows that was placed on our unopened sleeping bag and swatted her with it. She laughed even harder, plunking down her small pack on her side of the tent. Then she picked up her down pillow and smacked me with it, and we laughed together. Then we grabbed our pajama's and began to put them on, laughing so loud, I heard Mrs. Smith yell, "Quiet in there girls! Don't make me come in there!"

But we just laughed harder.


	4. Chapter 4: Food Fight!

The next morning, I heard Skye get up beside me. I felt as if I hadn't slept more than an hour, but then someone nudged me.

"Get up, McCollin." It was Quill, the boy I had a crush on.

I sat up, rather startled, and put on my glasses. "Wha-?" I asked, rubbing my temples.

He straightened up. "Breakfast is served. But I wouldn't go, if I were you." He wrinkled his nose. "Its pancakes that taste like crap, and look almost inedible."

"Lovely," I muttered, suddenly wishing I was back at home, where Mum would be setting a plate of eggs and sausage along with white bread, toasted and buttered, with a small bowl of mixed fruits before me at the table. Along with my health smoothie, of course.

I got up and sent Quill outside so I could get dressed. Then I pulled on my clothes – a pair of jeans and a tee with a sweater on top – and left the tent, pulling on my shoes as I did so.

Skye was already at the table, piling half the pancakes that were brought to the whole class on her plate. No syrup, of course; she hated syrup. She had a glass of milk and kept diving into the bowl of strawberries, not only to put on her pancakes, but to eat on their own as well.

I sat beside her, taking a plate with two pancakes with syrup and blueberries. "Thanks for waking me up," I said, beginning to eat.

Skye swallowed a large mouthful of pancake before saying. "That's what friends are for," and she winked at me.

I sipped a bit of my fruit juice, almost daintily; in my house, if you didn't have manners, you ate on the floor, in the basement. Literally.

Skye dropped a pancake piece square in the centre of her pants. The strawberry juice stain made it looked like she had just peed… or something along those lines.

"Damn it," she cursed, immediately taking off her own sweater (which I had _never_ seen her do before at school) and placing it on her lap. She held out her hand to me. "Napkin please," she said.

I handed her one. "Serviette," I corrected her. I can't help it, my parents are perfectionists.

She rolled her eyes. "Potato, potaato," she said, literally pronouncing it the way it's written.

Quill came over, with his friend, Marshall, who _really_ liked Skye. "Hey," Quill said, scooting between us on the long wooden bench. "Mind if I… steal a berry?" he asked, scooping one off my plate and popping it in his mouth.

Marshall sat on the other side of Skye. "Are you going to eat those?" he asked, as she patted her pants with the serviette. He pointed to her plate of pancakes but stopped when he realized what she was doing.

"Er- Did you just…?" he stopped mid-sentence.

Skye looked up, and realized she hadn't hidden what she was doing very well. "Huh? Oh, uh, that well… I, uh, dropped a bit of pancake and…" She got redder and redder with every word.

"Are you sure?" he asked, not sounding convinced. "You didn't just have your… you know… monthly gift?" He practically winced at the word.

People started to turn heads at the mention of Skye's "monthly gift". The amount of people in our class who were actually interested in that stuff were high, so high, that they swapped stories and pictures.

Skye turned redder than the strawberries. "I'm positive, Marshall. Now just…" She fluttered her hand in front of her, shooing Marshall away. "…go sit over there and leave me alone. Please?" She said the last word in an almost beg.

Marshall frowned. "No. Not until you tell me what you were just patting your pants with a napkin for."

Serviette. I thought, as Skye said, "I told you, I dropped a piece of pancake with strawberry juice on it, and it…"

"No, that's not it," Marshall interrupted, shaking his head. "It's either your unsafe day" – he winced there – "or you peed. So which is it?"

People began taking pictures. One guy was even videotaping this.

Quill nudged me as the argument continued. "Why doesn't someone do something?"

"Because it's too funny? Because they're sick in the head? I don't know!" I whispered back at him.

He shrugged. "Okay, then."

I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you do it?"

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. This is definitely not my time to interfere."

I grumbled something, disgusted, and got up. I went to stand behind Marshall, but then I heard Skye scream, "Eat pancake, loser!" Then there was a collective gasp from the crowd, and Marshall had a pancake stuck to his forehead.

He reached for a pancake of his own. "I hope you like starch," he snarled. "Because your about to get a mouthful of it." And his pancake flew and stuck to Skye's face.

"FOOD FIGHT!" somebody screamed.

Food flew threw the air, people dropped down on all sides of the long wooden table. It was like a massive war!

I ducked down and crawled under the table cloth as soon as the cry went up. Some other girls had the same idea, but were quivering, terrified out of their insanely expensive cream coated skin. I peeked out of the cloth and saw Brian and Skye standing side by side, flinging berries at people coming for them. They make a good team, I thought, and briefly considered to use my new gift to see how Brian thought about it, but I changed my mind.

Suddenly a hand grabbed mine and yanked me out, slamming a bowl of whipped cream in my face.

I spluttered, and heard a familiar laugh. I wiped my eyes clean with my hands and rubbed then all over the face of Quill, who ran off afterwards, me gripping his hand, to get another bowl of whipped cream. We ended up like Brian and Skye; flinging bits of food at people coming to get us.

Then, Mrs. Smith's loud shriek of, "AHHHH!" cut through the air; someone had thrown, someone else had ducked, and now Mrs. Smith had berries and cream all over her.

She wiped it off in fury. "Straight line, NOW!"

We obeyed, most of the kids trying to wipe their clothes clean. I managed to lick off most of the cream around my mouth, but then wiped off the rest with my hands. I went to stand beside Skye.

She was chuckling. Mrs. Smith wasn't. She assigned us all a 500 word essay on what food is for, when used properly. As usual, I saw Brian following Mrs. Smith like a lost puppy. Then, he stopped, and went to go stand in line with everyone else.

"Must be the guilt," I said, as everyone broke away to clean up.

Skye didn't say anything, but then she said, "So, I have two essays now; one on people, the other on food."

I laughed. "Have fun with that," I said. "1000 words total? Oh joy, oh superior bliss." I laughed harder.

She grinned, a few smashed berries falling out of her hair. "Hey, it could always be worse."


	5. Chapter 5: A Surprising Request

The bus went over a huge bump in the road. Kat and I bounced simultaneously on the seat as we went over the bump, and our heads hit the low roof of the bus. I twisted and accidentally landed on Kat's hand. She yelped and pulled out her hand from under my butt, and we laughed.

We were finally on our way home, back to New Dawn City. It had been a day after we were assigned the page long assignment about food, and I wasn't looking forward to spending the weekend typing up a stupid essay. So, as always, I was going to leave it in a heap in my bedroom, untouched.

Kat pulled out her camera with her mind. I grabbed it from where it hovered in mid-air, scowling.

"What are you doing? People can't see!"

She blinked at me, confused looking. "What? Why not? What harm could come from having" – she quivered at the next word – "powers."

I turned on the camera. It beeped, and the last picture that Kat had taken appeared; two bats, the same ones from the cave. "Because this has to be a secret," I said, looking up at her. I quickly glanced at my finger, and she sighed.

"Do we _have_ to sign it in blood?" she asked, and I nodded. I handed her the camera and pulled my Swiss Army knife out of my pocket. I flicked the knife part open and made a cut on my index finger. It began to bleed.

Kat whimpered as I cut her finger. I rolled my eyes as I placed my finger on hers. Then I said solemnly, "I promise to never show anyone my powers."

"Except our true loves," Kat said dreamily. I raised an eyebrow. "What? We have to tell _somebody_."

I shrugged. "Sure. Whatever." Then I closed with a, "This I do solemnly swear."

"Ditto," Kat said.

We went over another bump in the road, and then I heard the wheels begin to make a whirring noise; we were finally on a paved road.

Brian's head poked over the seat. "Hey, Kat, can I see your camera?"

I rolled my eyes. "Hi to you too."

Kat looked warily at Brian, holding her camera at a safe distance. "Why?"

"'Cause I want to see those bat pictures you took."

I shot a warning glance at Kat. "How did you remember that?"

He laughed. "When you follow Mrs. Smith around, remembering everything she has done or some other kid did, you get to be pretty good at remembering things."

"No." Kat spoke with a firmness I had never heard her speak with.

"Why not? I just want to look at them."

I glared at him. "Go to hell, Brian."

He just glared back at me. "Likewise." Then he turned back in his seat and slumped down.

Kat was giggling all of a sudden. "He thinks you're hot when you're angry," she whispered in my ear between giggles.

I groaned. "I thought we just signed blood?"

"Yeah, but no one can _see_ me reading someone's mind."

"Whatever." We swerved in the road, and I was pressed up against my soiled laundry bag. I wrinkled my nose and gagged. I should've agreed to sit in the aisle when Kat and I were deciding on seat arrangements.

We pulled up in front of the school. Parents were waiting for their kids anxiously, pacing around fancy cars. One parent was even standing in his truck bed, watching the bus. He signaled to the parents and they all rushed towards the bus like a crowd running towards a celebrity. We were all rushed off the bus into a crowd filled with parents hugging their children, and kissing their children, and even washing their children's face (the triplets, Michael, Cory, and Daniel's mother was armed with a washcloth and soap, much to her boys dislike). Kat's parents were there too, standing beside the family's white hybrid, smiling warmly, even as I approached with her.

"Hello, Skye," Mr. McCollin said. "Would you like a ride home?"

"No thank you," I declined. He seemed surprised. "I just want to walk home today, that's all," I added, not wanting to seem rude.

Mrs. McCollin was busy brushing Kat's hair. "Katherine, what did I tell you before you left?"

"Don't forget to take your vitamins?"

"NO. Don't forget to brush your hair." Kat winced as the brush went through a knot. "It gets all knotted and then when we go to those book signings, we're late because I couldn't brush your hair."

"I _know_, Mum. But can we do this at home?" Kat glanced over at a group of girls in our class and their parents, giggling, as they watched Mrs. McCollin brush Kat's hair.

A voice from inside the hybrid rang out. "Yes! I finally caught it! I finally caught that stupid Murkrow!"

I walked around and peered inside an open door. "Why if it isn't Matthew, my little menace." I tousled his dark ginger curls.

He glared at me. "Stop being a bitch." Even though he was a few years younger than Kat and I, he still swore, which always surprised me.

Mr. McCollin was over at the door a millisecond after Matthew finished the sentence. "What was that, young man?"

Matthew sighed. "Dad, I'm a man now. I can swear all I like."

I tousled his hair again. "Aww, my little twelve year old menace is growing up." I mock cried.

Kat had managed to get into the seat beside Matthew and away from her mother's brush. "Alright, let's go. I have an essay to do, and I'm not staying up late to write it."

Mr. McCollin sighed and closed Matthew's door. "Sorry, Skye. Maybe Kat will call you later tonight?"

"Sure," I said. "That's fine." This was a lie; my mom was probably going to be on the phone all night, talking with yet _another_ guy she had met online. I'm not going to say much about it, but when my dad… passed on, my mom was released from any bonds she may have had before when he was alive, and made it known that she would stop at nothing to find a new man. Right now, she was dating a man named Jim.

Mrs. McCollin got in the car, and Mr. McCollin got in after he gave me a slight bow. Then the hybrid started up, and they drove away.

I started off home. I tucked my dirty laundry bag into my large hiking backpack, and pulled out my new yaoi book. Looking at the comic I felt calmed. It was almost a secret for me, reading yaoi. Like Kat always having to take her teddy bear, Lucy, everywhere she went, I had to have a yaoi book. (And if you haven't understood what I'm talking about, Google it.)

I crossed the street a few seconds before the light turned green, my nose stuck in my book. It wasn't long before I heard footsteps beside me.

"Hi, Brian," I said, tucking my book under my arm and out of sight. "Since when do you live down this way?"

"Since always," he said, calmly.

"I see. And why haven't I seen you before?"

"'Cause normally, I stay later after school to help Mrs. Smith."

By now, the sky was turning orange from the setting sun. I realized that I had better hurry. I glanced in Brian's direction, but before I could tell him I had to hurry on, he said, "I was wondering if you'd like to stay over night."

I looked at him, surprised. "What?"

"I know how long it takes for you to get home," he said, shrugging. "Usually you bike, right?"

"Uh, yeah?" _How the hell does he know this?_

"Yeah, so why don't you just call your mom, tell her you're staying over at a friend's house, and just stay over." He glanced at my bag. "You're certainly prepared for it."

I thought about it, and considered it weird briefly. Then, when I thought there was a pause long enough to let him know I wasn't sure, I said to Brian, "Eh, why the hell not?"

He grinned a bit. "Alright. Follow me."


	6. Chapter 6: Answering Machine

Mum turned in her seat and looked at me, as Skye shrank to a small speck while we drove away. "Honey, your Father and I need to talk to you." She glanced at Matt. "Privately, that is."

My mum is too formal. "Uh, why?" I asked her.

She sighed and mouthed the word, "Sex."

I groaned. "Not this _again_…"

"Sweet, it's for your own good. And your virginity," she added quietly.

"MOM!" I screeched.

Dad veered around a dead squirrel in the road. "What are you screeching about back there?" he asked, glancing in his rearview mirror. "I'm _trying_ to drive here."

"Sorry, Dad," I sighed.

Mum turned back in her seat so she faced the windshield. "Just come see me in the kitchen when we get home, alright?"

I grumbled and leaned up against my window. I peered out and saw a pine tree, with a small dirt path just beside it. Further in the distance was a large mansion. _Brian's house_, a small voice reminded me.

I glanced at Matt, who was absorbed in his Pokemon. I reached out into his mind and heard him reciting, "Grass beats Water, Water beats Fire, and Fire beats Grass…". I rolled my eyes. Then I listened to Mum's thoughts. "What am I going to tell her? I can't just go and ask her straight out if she's done it with some boy in her class…"

I gagged. "Ew," I muttered.

I then listened to Dad's, as he bobbed up and down in his seat. "'Cause baby you're a FIIIIIIIIIIREWOOOOORK!" his thoughts sang. "Come and show me WHHHHHAAAATT you're WOOOOOORTH!"

I pulled back, wincing.

Finally, Dad and his creepy singing mind drove up to our condo. "We're hooome~!" he said in the same voice he had sung in his mind with.

I flung the door open. "Thank goodness!" I cried, leaping out of the car and closing my door with a slam. I dashed to the front door, pulled out my key, and opened it rapidly. I ran inside, kicked off my shoes, and dashed upstairs to my room. I went into my room, and closed the door behind me. Opening my laptop, I turned it on and waited for it to load.

Too bad for me, Mum came in, wringing her hands together, biting her lip.

"Mum, I'm not discussing this with you," I said as I opened Microsoft Word. "I have homework to do." I pulled out my camera and plugged it into my laptop. The pictures from the trip came up. I minimized it.

Mum sat on the bed. "Sweetie, I'm only doing this for your sake."

"Forget my virginity, Mum, or you'll scar me for life."

"You will not be scarred."

"Yes, I will. With mental images of… things." I shuddered. Stupid Skye. It was her fault that I knew about yaoi in the first place.

She sighed. "Fine. Be that way." She got up, frowning, and walked out of my room. But before she left down the stairs she called back, "But don't blame me when you get pregnant."

"MOOOOOOOOOM!" I screeched, slamming the door. I plopped back down on my desk chair. Hearing her chuckle, I pulled out my iPod and turned it on, scrolling through until I found "Hungry Eyes". Then I turned it up really loudly, so I couldn't hear Matt's heavy metal junk. He had gone goth or emo or punk or something recently.

I started on my essay right away, and I was done not long after. I then went on my Facebook for awhile, and after that shut off the computer and unpacked my things, throwing the dirty clothes in the laundry. My cat, Nightpaw (that isn't actually his name; his real name is Perry, but I gave him a warrior cat name. I love my Warriors~!) came inside my room, meowing for treats. He leaped up onto my bed and rubbed up against my arm, purring.

"Aww, who's a cute and fuzzy little Warrior cat?" I asked him, picking him up and stroking him. "You are. You are, Nightpaw."

He purred and licked my face. I reached over to my night table and picked up a treat for him. I handed it to him, and he sniffed it, and then ate it up quickly. "Gee, you're welcome."

He then leaped out of my arms and left.

I happened to glance at my cell phone and picked it up. I remembered I was supposed to call Skye. So I dialed her number and I got her answering machine. I sighed, and then left a message, saying, "Hey, Skye. It's me, Kat. Call me when you get a chance, will ya? Okay, bye."


	7. Chapter 7: Monkey Boy

Brian led the way further down the sidewalk. He paused at a pine tree, where there was a small dirt path. Then he led the way down it, stopping in front of a large house, surrounded by trees.

"My home," he said.

He brought me to the front of the house. Then he reached inside of his bag and tossed me a baseball cap. I caught it, and raised an eyebrow.

"Tuck your hair in it," he said. "My parents don't like the idea of me bringing a girl home, so you have to be my friend, Skyler, okay?"

"Sure?" I tucked my hair in under the cap and adjusted my sweater so it hung down a bit more.

He smiled. "Perfect." He turned to the door and opened it, leading me inside a large foyer, tiled marble.

"Cool," I said in my best guy voice. "Man, this is _tight_." I made some gangster like motions.

Brian looked at me like I had just done something wrong. "What the hell was that?"

I blinked confused. "Uh, what do you mean?"

"Is that seriously what you think guys act like?"

I nodded.

He rolled his eyes. "Man, you have some odd ideas."

I made more gangster motions. "Dude, that's how I roll…" I followed him up a winding staircase, down an arched hallway, into a large room, filled with books and papers. A bed sat in one corner, near a balcony door, and a T.V. sat across from the bed.

"Holy mother of God," I said, as he closed the door behind me, tossing his backpack onto the bed. My eyes widened as I saw a few video game consoles under the T.V. "Dude, what games you got?"

"Let's see…" Brian said, walking over to a shelf. It was filled with video game cases. He pulled a piece of paper off of the top of the shelf and read aloud, "Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Brawl, Shadow the Hedgehog, Pineapple Memories-"

"Pineapple Memories?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"- Kingdom Hearts I, II, and Chain of Memories, Just Dance 2, Okami, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Black Ops, Agent 007: Agent Under Fire, and a few other ones…"

"Twilight Princess?" I echoed, my one eye twitching. Brian turned to me and nodded.

There was an awkward pause between us. Then I charge towards him, arms outstretched, and yelped, "GIMMIE!"  
He cried out, startled, and fell sideways, landing in front of the balcony door. I landed in front of the T.V., inserting the disc into his Wii so I could play.

I heard the balcony door slide open and turned around to see a girl of about twelve, with black hair, wearing a ninja suit. She also had safety buckles on her waist, which, I figured, was for bungee jumping, or just plain hanging from a rope, like the one the buckles were attached to.

She glanced at me, a scowl on her face. "Who the hell is he?" she asked, buying into my disguise (and a poor one at that).

Brian jumped up to his feet. "Vicky, Mom told you not to zip up and down from your room and down to mine using ropes. You know she'll get mad at you."

Vicky rolled her eyes. "Like I care. And I asked you a question, retard. Who is _he_?" She pointed to me this time.

"My bud, Skyler."

I nodded, and gave a little salute. "'Sup?" I said in my dude voice. Brian glared at me.

Vicky sniffed. "Whatever." She gave her rope a slight tug, and with a little _whiir_ she was gone.

Brian closed the door, locked it, and turned to me. "'Sup? SERIOUSLY?" he cried.

"What? I thought I would be friendly."

"Well to hell with friendly-ness. Vicky's a freakin' demon!" But he didn't say freakin'.

"Meh, whatever." I switched off the Wii. "Let's go to the park?"

"What?"

"Because of nature!" I cried, leaping up and sticking my arm out, gesturing to the outside.

Brian cocked his head to one side. "Uh… Okay?"

He opened the window above his bed. "Come on," he said, climbing up into the opening. "Get moving."

I blinked confused as he dropped down out of sight. There was a swishing of leaves; he must've landed in a tree. I slowly walked over and jumped on the bed, standing on my toes to look down out the window. Brian was just below me, in a branch of a tree, looking rather expectant.

I got the idea. "What, you want me to jump out of the window, into the tree?"

He nodded. "Yes, that was the idea."

I shook my head. "Screw that." I raised myself into the window and jumped down, past the branches of the tree, onto the soft grass below.

Brian looked down at me in amazement. "Holy crap," he said. "Are you alright?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, and that's why I'm screaming in agony."

"I'm going to ignore your sarcasm now."

"Whatever just get your ass down here."

He leaped out of the tree with a little yelp, and landed square on his arse. I laughed.

"Nice flying leap, Monkey Boy!"

"Shut up!" he snapped, standing up and rubbing his butt. "It hurts."

I laughed harder. "Get over it, and let's go."


	8. Chapter 8: On the Mountain

I raced downstairs and grabbed my coat. I had just gotten a text from my other friend, Lee. She said that she had spotted Brian with some cute boy walking towards the park from her bedroom window. I wanted to see who it was, so I slipped on my sneakers, called out, "Goin' to the park! Bye!" and left the house, closing the door behind me.

I opened the garage and got my bike and helmet out. I shut the garage door, locked it, then got on my bike and put my helmet on. I then biked to the corner store, got a slushie, and biked down the street towards the park.

I heard their thoughts before I saw them; Brian was thinking about how cute the guy looked and the other guy was thinking the same thing. As I rounded the corner before the park, I screeched to a halt.

The other boy was showing Brian how to sit on top of the monkey bars. Brian was scooting along the top slowly, as if he was afraid he would fall. The other boy was watching him, directing him to do something. Then he jumped up on top with Brian, and hung upside down by his knees. I heard them laugh.

I retreated, going around into the woods behind the park. There, I could see them better and maybe hear something other than their thoughts. As I reached the small wooded area, I heard the other boy say, "That's an odd way to hang off the bar."

I saw Brian hanging off the bar, but with only one leg. The rest of his limbs were flailing about, as he tried not to fall. The other boy laughed.

"Shut up, man!" cried Brian. He then fell and landed on his rump. "OW!" he shouted.

The boy jumped out from the monkey bars. "What is it with you today?" he asked, helping Brian up. "First, you fall because I crashed into you. Then you fall out of a tree, and now this?" He chuckled. "You have a terrible sense of balance, Brian."

"Oh just you be quiet," Brian grumbled, dusting himself off. "The first time, _you_ pushed me over, and the other times… I was just unlucky."

"Yeah sure."

"IT'S TRUE!" Brian exclaimed, swatting at the boy with his hand. The boy punched him in the arm in return, and Brian winced.

"What the hell was that for?" Brian asked, rubbing his arm. "That smarts," he wailed.

The boy laughed. "Get over it and c'mon. I have to show you someplace."

I took a deep breath in sharply as the boy retraced a route in his mind; it led to a secret place that I had thought only me and Skye knew about!

The boy led Brian into the woods, a few meters away from my hiding spot. They crossed the field at a sprint, and vanished between the bushes on the far side.

I pedaled after them quickly, not wanting to loose sight of them. I parked my bike near a stone and locked it to a small iron loop that stuck out of it. I then put my helmet behind the handle bars and raced into the bushes after the boys.

I followed Brian's voice as he cried out, "Ew! Look at the size of that bug!" and "Ack! I think I just sprained my ankle!" Luckily, there was a path of broken stems in the tall grass that told me where to go.

Then I came out into a clearing and immediately dashed into the cover of some bushes. Brian and the boy were standing in front of my spot, and I heard Brian whisper, "Woah."

"Me and my friend come here all the time in the summer," the boy replied. "We call it the mountain. You can see al over the place from here."

"You're right." Brian pointed somewhere. "Look! It's the library!"

"And the skate park," the boy pointed out, "and there's that new rock garden that they made…"

"It's amazing," Brian sighed, obviously in love with the sight.

The setting sun got dimmer and dimmer as they spoke. "Look at the sunset!" the other boy gasped, sitting down. Brian sat down beside him.

I listened in on their thoughts again, driving away a bee with my moving abilities. First the other boy thought, _So pretty… I think I kinda like it up here, with Brian. It's nice._

Brian's thoughts seem to echo; _I love it up here. Especially with Skye._

Skye? What? I figured it was a short way of saying Skyler. I used to know a Skyler before I had moved. He went by Skye. Could this boy too?

I then watched in utter amazement as Skyler leaned against Brian, putting his head on his shoulder. He sighed. "It's beautiful."

There was a pause, then I heard Brian whisper softly, "Not as much as you."

OH MY GOD!

"You think so?" I could almost hear the blush in Skyler's voice.

"Mhm."

There was another FREAKIN' pause, then Skyeler said, "Br-"

He was cut off by Brian's lips meeting his.


End file.
